Tuesday, August 9 2005 20:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, today (Aug 9, 2005) assured shareholders that their investments would be protected by whoever assumed charge after his retirement.

Responding to a query from shareholders, who sought to know about the group's future after his retirement, at the annual general meeting of Tata Tea Ltd here, he said it was a 150-year-old institution and the group had not suffered after the exit of J N Tata and J R D Tata, who were previous chairmen of Tata Sons Ltd.

He said investments would be protected and shareholders' interests would be served well.

Recently, Tata Sons had raised the retirement age of directors from 70 to 75 years, which makes it possible for Ratan Tata, 67, to continue till 2013.